A month of clients, strange weather patterns, and lonely nights passes before Carter sees Harry again. He's come in for his appointment and she's almost happy that he has because there's something about him that she likes, even though she's not going to admit that to anyone. It was hard enough admitting that to herself.
Harry walks in with a small smile framing his very kissable lips and Carter wants to smack herself for just thinking about kissing him. He's certainly a nice sight to look at, but she isn't going to get into any of that romance shit. She had priorities and finding a significant other isn't one of them.
However, she does agree with what Pandora said, that she needs some kind of sexually related stress relief. But when it comes down to it, she can fix that herself and she doesn't have to complicate things.
Carter puts on her friendly business smile as he walks up to the counter. "Welcome back. Have you decided what you'd like to have done today, or should I get you the books that you haven't looked at yet?"
Harry laughs lightly, the corners of his lips tilting at a much more dramatic angle. "I'd like you to design whatever you want, to place wherever you want."
Carter looks at him curiously, her eyebrow raised and her lips slightly lifted into a smirk. "Really? You trust me that much?"
Harry shrugs, his eyes and his mood light. He trusts her as an artist and that's really all that matters to him right now. "Yes, I love your work and I thought that it would be neat to have an original."
She hasn't heard the word neat since she was a child and she thinks that it's amusing to hear a grown man use it in a sentence. Carter laughs as she scribbles an idea and a price estimate down on her notebook behind the counter. "Neat. I haven't heard that word since I was about four years old. Not a very vast vocabulary?"
He playfully rolls his eyes in response, a light laugh rolling off his tongue. "Actually, I'm very well educated and I possess and immaculate vocabulary. I'm just a bit more...conservative with my word choice, amongst other things."
Carter's eyes widen slightly at his response. She hadn't expected him to react so lightly because she was a little rude to begin with. She read him wrong and she's actually a little amused and a little impressed by his reaction.
"Impressive. I'll go draw you something, sit tight and feel free to help yourself to anything in the fridge or on the coffee table."
Pandora doesn't waste any time and pops up beside Carter the second that she makes it to her drawing table. "Mr. Sexy is back! Are you going to go for him this time?"
Carter laughs and rolls her eyes as she starts her outline, "No, I'm perfectly content just being his artist. I can fuck myself if I need to be 'sexually relieved.'"
Pandora laughs loudly and takes a seat across from her to watch her as she works. She admires the way that she lays things out and how she executes everything in her own special manner. "But that's no fun! You need to get some action other than your vibrator and your internet porn!"
She ignores the fact that she's just loudly announced some of the things that she does on her free time, even if the porn part isn't true. Carter rolls her eyes and focuses on her drawing, "I don't watch porn, Pandora. You, on the other hand, I'm not too sure about."
Pandora knows that she isn't exactly telling the truth because she's seen her Tumblr and the stuff that she reposts. "Looks like it from what you post and reblog on Tumblr."
Carter's blue eyes lift to meet Pandora's brown ones, a slight smile to her lips. "How did you find that?"
Pandora laughs loudly and rolls her eyes because Carter isn't as secretive as she thinks that she is. "Wasn't very hard, actually. I'm surprised that you don't have any creepy stalkers showing up here yet. Oh! Maybe he's one!"
The idea that Harry is a stalker is one of the most ridiculous things that Carter's ever heard. He doesn't give off that vibe at all and he doesn't even look at his phone while he waits in the front. If he was a stalker, she's sure that she would know by now.
"Pandora, I guarantee that the man out there is not a stalker. He never even takes his phone out of his pocket when he sits there and waits for me to draw."
Pandora sneaks a glance around the corner to see him twiddling his fingers just like he did the last time. "Huh, that's actually really weird."
Carter shrugs as she finishes off some final touches to her details. It's not weird to her because she's not on her phone constantly either. "Not really, there are actually people out there who aren't glued to their phones for every waking minute of their lives. You can try to get him in your bed again if you'd like, but I have a feeling that he'll be back soon regardless. Have fun watching while I tattoo him, ya creep."
This only earns a laugh as Pandora heads back to her booth and flips open her book. Harry is certainly a sight to look at, but she's far more concerned with how her book ends.
Carter glances over the details of her drawing as she walks to the front to meet with Harry again. It's something that will fit well with the nautical theme that he seems to like and she's hoping that he'll like it as much as she does because it's one of the best drawings that she's ever done.
"Alright, here's your grand reveal. Still want artist's choice?"
She's drawn up an intricately detailed and poised octopus destroying a ship for his right shoulder, if he's still up for it that is.
Harry scans the drawing for a few moments, his mind and his eyes already aesthetically amazed at what she's created in only a matter of minutes. Something like this would take him hours, days even, and he's absolutely blown away.
"Most definitely! Where are you planning on placing it?"
Carter smiles to herself as she leads him back to her chair, "Your right shoulder, but I can move it down your arm or to your leg if you'd like."
Harry shakes his head, his shaking hand lifting to run through his hair. His right shoulder is more than fine. It'll hurt a little when he sleeps on that side, but it'll be worth it because it's a masterpiece just like she claims. "No, that's perfect!"
He's hoping that she doesn't notice the way that his hands are shaking, the withdrawal came earlier than he anticipated and he's on the verge of panicking. He knew that he shouldn't have tried to keep clean this early, but he wanted to because he didn't want to come to her shop all fucked up in the head and overly emotional.
Carter picks up on it, but she doesn't say anything. She figures that he's probably nervous about the size or the area because he doesn't have any other tattoos that are this big. He sits well again, but this time he's certainly much more talkative and it unnerves her a bit.
This time around, he asks her descriptive questions about herself, questions that she can't answer with a yes or a no, no matter how hard that she tries to.
At some point during the four hours that he sits for, she actually drops her guard and ends up answering his questions like she would with Pandora or anyone else that's close to her. She doesn't even notice that she's doing it until he asks what she does when she isn't in the tattoo shop and she doesn't have an answer for him.
"I sit at home and that's about it. Sometimes I draw, but nothing really special or interesting. Why are you asking all of these questions?"
Harry restrains himself from shrugging because it will mess up her lines and it will hurt a hell of a lot more than it needs to. "Dunno, just stuff to talk about, really."
Since he's been asking her so many questions, she decides to ask him a personal question herself. "Why are your hands so shaky?"
She has an idea that it's drugs, but she can't say for certain because she doesn't know him that well and it could easily be something else.
Harry wracks his brain for an answer that doesn't have to do with drugs of any kind. "Just jittery today, I guess."
Carter doesn't really believe him, but she doesn't pry any further because it really isn't her business and she's not too interested in his personal life anyway. She wants to keep her distance.
For another few minutes, the only sound to be heard is the hum of the machine as she sets the ink in his skin. Harry's praying that the withdrawal won't hit him hard for another few hours. If it hits before then, he's in quite the bit of trouble.
"So, this is a rather strange question, but do you happen to run a Tumblr account by the name of indeliblemasterpieces?"
Carter's eyes widen slightly at the mention of her username. Pandora brought it up earlier to joke with her about the things that she posts, but she didn't really believe that it was easily discernable as hers.
She certainly isn't going to lie, even though he's freaked her out a little bit by mentioning it. She takes pride in everything that she does or else she wouldn't do it.
"Yes, I do. How did you find that though?"
Carter's curious despite the fact that she knows that there is a possibility that he's a stalker like Pandora alluded to earlier.
He doesn't look at her and instead focuses his eyes on a nice chest piece on the wall. "I stumbled upon it while I was online. Your account is quite popular."
What he said could have easily been true if he'd looked her in the eyes when he said it. His avoidance of eye contact told her that he went searching for it. "It is, but I don't think that you've told me the truth about how you found it."
Harry can't help the smile that rises to his lips, it isn't often that a woman is so honest with him. "You're right, I didn't. I was searching for some more of your artwork and, somehow, I was lead to your Tumblr. You're very..."
Carter laughs as she fills in his sentence, "Naked? Exposed? Sexual? Any other synonyms that you'd like to use?"
Harry briefly thinks about his answer because he doesn't want to come across any worse than he already has. "I was actually going somewhere else with that, but that works too. Can I ask why you post that stuff?"
Carter smiles slightly as she continues to work on his tattoo. "Post what? Porn, or my nudes?"
Harry tries to hold back a look of admiration and cockiness because she's so blunt and it's incredibly attractive. She's hot and so is the way that she handles things.
"Your nudes. Porn is actually quite normal. People get horny, it is what it is."
Carter counters with something that he isn't quite expecting. "Nudes are normal too, it just isn't often that people post them of their own free will."
Harry's beyond curious to hear her reasoning and presses her further, "So why do you post yours?"
Carter smirks as she packs in some lighter shades of blue, he's caught on to her game of questions and she's a little impressed. "Why did you look?"
Harry asks her another question. If she wants to be difficult, so would he. "Why won't you just answer the question?"
She's caught off guard by the question and it takes her longer than it should have to answer. "I don't like talking to people like this, like I care and like I'm actually interesting to listen to in the first place. I like to be guarded and you're starting to irritate me with all of these questions."
"Well, you don't talk and asking questions is the only way for me to get to know you. I'm not trying to be annoying, I swear."
Carter stops tattooing to stare at him. She can't, for the life of her, figure out why he's even interested in the first place. She's rude and closed off and those are two things that definitely aren't attractive.
"Why are you so keen on knowing who I am, other than some tattoo artist?"
Harry looks down to his visibly shaking hands that she still hasn't really questioned. "Dunno, 'coz I like you?"
"You said that like it was a question."
Carter resumes packing his skin with color.
"It wasn't. I'm just terrible with conversations sometimes. You still haven't answered my question though."
She sighs as she wipes the excess ink from his skin, "I post my nudes because I'm bored and it adds some interest to my life, since I'm not ever really with anyone."
That, and it makes her feel good about herself. There's just something about people reblogging and liking her photos that makes her feel like she's beautiful in some way.
Harry keeps his mouth shut because he seems to have already unintentionally pushed her buttons. He hums to a song in his head to focus on anything other than the way that his hands are shaking and the way that his body craves the familiar drug induced euphoria.
Carter toys with the idea of asking him a very personal, and very inappropriate question. Usually, the men that have seen her nudes let her know in explicit detail what they'd like to do to her and how they thought about that while they got off to her photos and sometimes her videos. She's curious as to whether or not he scrolled far enough to see any of her videos and whether or not he got off to her.
"You didn't look at any of the videos that I posted, did you?"
Harry clears his throat awkwardly because he knows what she's hinting at. He definitely saw her videos and he's guilty of watching them more than once. He couldn't help it, he's a man with urges and, quite frankly, Aurora does nothing for him.
Literally, when they're together it's always about her and she never gets him off. Plus, even just being with her in general has lost its pleasure.
"I might have, but it doesn't matter because I don't see you that way now. Didn't even think of it until you mentioned it, if I'm being honest."
Carter's not sure if she's turned on or embarrassed that he's watched her get herself off. He's certainly very attractive though and she hasn't had proper sex in ages. She's silent for a while, focusing on her art instead of worrying about whether or not she wants to sleep with him. She does, but she doesn't like bringing people back to her place unless it's necessary. Her home is her sanctuary, and bringing someone into it is like tainting a perfectly clear record.
"If I wanted to have sex with you, no emotional attachment, would you be okay with doing it at your place?"
Harry nearly chokes on the mint gum that's long since lost its flavor. "What?"
Carter laughs and wipes the excess ink away. "I haven't properly been laid in ages, it was just a question. We're both adults here."
Harry's hands start to shake a little more, "I don't bring people 'round my place."
He loves the idea of having sex with her, but he can't just let her into his safe place so easily, no matter how badly he wants to fuck her brains out.
Carter nods because she understands, "So, you would like to have sex with me, but not at your place?"
Harry swallows his gum on accident and curses internally, this conversation is putting pictures in his head and it's not helping his situation at all. "Y-yes."
Carter turns off her machine and wipes at his skin to rid the excess ink from his skin one last time and then again to clean the new wound. "In that case, consider yourself privileged. I don't usually bring anyone home. Is eight a good time for you?"
He doesn't know what to tell her. If he agrees and shows up at her place, he'll be high and she'll know it. But he really wants to take her up on her offer because maybe, just maybe, she'll make him feel something again.
He takes too long to answer and she wipes his arm one last time because she felt like she missed a spot and because she wanted to get his attention. Carter's neutral expression hasn't faltered in the slightest.
"You can say no, it won't hurt my feelings. It's a one-time offer though, so choose wisely."
Harry pinches the bridge of his nose and sighs, "I want to, but I can't."
Carter nods as she starts to put her machines away, "Anything to do with how your hands have been trembling this entire time?"
His light green eyes meet her clear blue ones and they stay there for a long moment. He's going to be honest with her because there's a good chance that it will let down one of those many walls that she's shrouded herself in. "Yes, I've got a bit of a drug problem and I don't want that to bother you because I'm...different when I'm on them and I don't handle the withdrawals very well."
Carter stands up and walks him to the front counter. "Have you tried to quit?"
Harry nods briefly, his hands shoved in his pockets and his eyes low because it's a sensitive topic. "Yes, doesn't really work out though."
Carter looks up at him for the briefest of moment as she writes down her address. "Tell you what, the offer still stands if you'd like to give me whatever it is that you'll be on as well. I need to live a little and I really need to get laid, so here's the address if you change your mind. You owe me four hundred for today."
Harry takes the paper from her hand and shoves it in his pocket. He'll have to think about her offer extensively when he gets back to his warehouse because there's a possibility that he'll drag her into the mess that Aurora created and he really doesn't want to do that to anyone.
This time he gives her fifty over and tells her to keep the rest. He leaves with her address in his pocket and one of the first hard decisions that he's had to make in a long time.